Sen. Al Franken announced Tuesday that he'll hold a hearing on mobile privacy in May in response to the discovery of an unencrypted file on Apple mobile devices that can be used to track the owner's movements.
The Congressional hearing, "Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy," is set for May 10. Franken (D-Min.) has invited representatives from Apple and Google.
Meanwhile, the site Mac Rumors obtained what it says is an email from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, claiming, "We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false."
The kerfuffle started last week when Pete Warden, who worked as a software engineer for Apple for five years, and Alasdair Allen, author of "Learning iPhone Programming," say that iPhones and 3G iPads with Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS4, feature a file that records the position of the devices.
This file features latitude and longitude coordinates and a time stamp. Warden and Allen also found the file on machines that users have synched with their mobile devices.
Even thought this latitude and longitude data was found not to be "particularly accurate," they say the Wi-Fi network ID's can pinpoint a user's location. Warden and Allen found their own location data going back to the time they upgraded their mobile devices to iOS4, which Apple released in June 2010.
“We’re not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it’s clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups and even device migrations,” the two write in an April 20th article and video posted on O’Reilly Media Inc.’s "Radar."
In an April 20 letter, Franken), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, asks Apple CEO Steve Jobs why the mobile device and computer maker is collecting this data, why is the data unencrypted and why consumers weren’t informed.
“Anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user’s home, the businesses he frequents the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend and the trips he has taken.” Franken wrote. “There are numerous ways in which this information could be used by criminals and bad actors.”
Warden and Allen say that they’ve contacted Apple’s product security team about the data collection. Even as they are “bummed” that their devices are collecting this data, it is unencrypted, there’s no way to delete it and Apple didn't ask for their consent, Warden and Allen said consumers shouldn’t panic.
“There is no immediate harm because there is no evidence that this data has left the custody of the phone or the laptop,” they said on in their video.
